This disclosure generally relates to a vehicle door assembly for preventing the vehicle door from opening during an outer handle intrusion event.
Manual operation of a door latch mechanism for a vehicle door is typically through the use of an outer door handle connected via a rod to a latch mechanism. To prevent the door from opening during a crash event that results in the outer door handle deforming laterally inward, a counterweight has been provided on an internal side of the vehicle door connected with the outer door handle. The counterweight acts on movement of the door handle to prevent the door handle from stroking the link rod downward, which could result in the latch mechanism moving to an open position. Typically, the counterweight is rotationally coupled to the door handle using a spring arrangement so that inertial movement of the door handle is countered by corresponding inertial movement of the counterweight in the event of abnormal accelerations of the vehicle. Due to the normal orientation of door handles on a vehicle, this would normally be relevant when the vehicle experiences a side impact. A problem with known counterweight designs is that during a vehicle roll-over event causing inward deformation of the door handle, the inertia of the mass of the counterweight may be insufficient to prevent downward stroking of the rod, which could result in unintentional opening of the door.
Alternative solutions have included providing the latch mechanism with internal inertia-responsive levers or other components, so that the latch mechanism is locked against opening movements when the latch mechanism experiences abnormal acceleration in specific predetermined axes. These arrangements, however, introduce complexity and cost into latch mechanisms, and moreover cannot be incorporated retrospectively into existing latch mechanism designs.